Day Eight, March 1, Saint Pierre, Martinique

Harbour of Saint Pierre

We
sailed through the night, where Red watch was hit with a few squalls, and
had to raise and lower sails continuously. The next morning, Green watch
was awoken just in time, as we sailed into the harbour of Saint Pierre,
and they dropped anchor.

We were all taxied ashore quickly, so we could get a good
start on the day. We began at the Volcanology Museum of Saint Pierre, we
paid the equivalent of $1 Canadian each, to enter. It was basically one
large room, which contained artifacts, personal statements, recollections
and photos of before, during and after the eruption of Montagne Pelée,
in 1902.

Cyndi and Chris Hemingway spent the day taking pictures
and detailed notes for their research and presentation of the Eruption
of 1902.

These three pictures illustrate the remains of a church, that
was totally destroyed by the eruption.

This
picture is of one of the grandeur staircases which made up part of the
theater, before it was destroyed. Above the staircases, the actual performance
theater is just beyond; the building to the the left, was the prison. Below,
the picture inset is of the insane asylum. Inside are iron chairs where
prisoners were strapped down, and most likely perished during the eruption,
unable to escape.

After the museum we began our tour of the ruins, scattered
throughout the city. We walked up to the military barracks and the insane
asylum. We all snapped pictures like crazy, trying to record the incredible
amount of destruction. All the buildings were made out of stone, and would
have seemed to have been built solidly. But only the buildings foundations
are left, as a reminder to the destructive power of the earth. We walked
to the Church, then the Theater, and as stated above, the Prison was situated
beside it (where the only survivor was an inmate in solitary confinement).
The Cathedral was our last stop, it too had been ravaged, but it has since
been rebuilt.

View of some of cells at the insane asylum. It was here that
patients were burned to death while strapped to the iron chairs visible
in each cell.

We finished our touring of Saint Pierre, and headed out
for some drinks, most of us tried to stay together. We started out on this
one restaurant on the beach, some of our group ate, while some of our group
just had drinks. We continued on from there to little pubs and drink houses.
Our group got split up, and we met up with each other now and again. We
then met up with some of the crew.

At 6:00 p.m. we met up with the majority of our group for dinner at this
restaurant further down on the beach. Some people went ahead to check it
out, and found that it did not open until 7:00p.m., so we decided to forget
it, and we would walk back towards the pier (our pick-up point) and find
another place. As we walked back, we chatted with some of the locals,
and then watched the sun as dipped below the horizon.

Sunset on the shore of Saint Pierre

Some
of us ended up back at the first restaurant to eat, as we could not find
anywhere else. At that restaurant we met up with our professors, while
others who did not want to go there again, met up with some of the crew
and went for seafood pizza. We were on shore leave until 8:00 p.m., most
of us tried to make phone calls home and say hi (hahahaha, its awesome
down here) and before we knew it, it was 8:00p.m.. We were waiting on the
pier for the whaler to come and taxi us back aboard the ship, when the
Captain offered an extension to some of us until 10:00 p.m.. So Jessica,
Stacey, Chris, Matt, Martin and Craig stayed and decided to go for some
crêpe chocolat at Chez Hugo. It cost us 15 francs each, but Martin
and Matt decided not to eat, because they were too full.

We caught the whaler back to the ship at 10:00, and prepared
to sail for Dominica. Green watch raised the anchor, while Red and White
watches raised the sails, and we were off once more.